Steve Coogan on Philomena and Judi Dench

Cinema Royale talks to Steve Coogan of the new film Philomena. Coogan is best known as a comedian. He created the character Alan Partridge and starred in such films as Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story and Tropic Thunder. However, Philomena, which he also co-wrote and produced, is dramatic. Coogan talks about acting alongside Judi Dench in the film.

Coogan talks about the process of writing the film, based on a true story of an Irish woman whose children are taken away from her by the Catholic Church, saying that he “took the bones of [the original story] and tried to turn it into something else.” He also notes that, despite the grim subject matter, he didn’t want the story to be depressing but “uplifting, somehow.”